


Malia

by Crusoe15



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Nick Fury is Not Amused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-04-06 18:59:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14063400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crusoe15/pseuds/Crusoe15
Summary: Tony gets a call one day from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. They say his daughter's mother just died. His what? Tony doesn't have any daughters, as far as he knows. And why is Bruce so interested in the school's name? Tony's never heard of it. What is he going to tell the team? Or Peter and Harley, do they want a sister?orTony has a mutant daughter





	1. Chapter 1

Pepper Potts answered the ringing phone as she sat down on the couch in the common room in the avengers’ compound.

  
“Hello, this is Pepper Potts speaking, may I ask whose calling?” she asked professionally.

  
“Hello, Ms. Potts, my name is Scott Summers. I am a teacher at Xavier’s school for Gifted Youngsters. I was hoping to speak to Dr. Anthony Stark concerning one of my students,’ came the reply.  
“If this is about a recommendation for an internship, Professor Summers, you need to call HR department at Stark Industries,” she told him as she tried not to laugh at Tony being referred to as “Dr. Anthony Stark.”

  
“Its not, it’s a personal matter,” said Prof. Summers.

  
“What kind of personal matter?” she asked.

  
“Its something I can only discuss with Dr. Stark, if he chooses to share it with you that’s his business,” came Summer’s reply.

  
Pepper was getting tired of non-answers when Tony strolled into view.

  
“Here’s Dr. Stark now, I’ll see if he’s available,” Pepper said.

  
She turned to Tony, “I have a call for you. Says he’s Professor Scott Summers from the Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. He is calling about one if his students on a personal matter.”

  
“A personal matter about one of his students?” Tony repeated.

  
“Yes,” said Pepper.

  
“Put it on speaker but don’t tell him,” Tony decided. Pepper did as he said.

  
“Hello? Professor Summers?” Tony asked.

  
“Doctor Stark?” asked Summers.

"Yes, I understand that you have a personal matter to discuss with me involving one of your students,” Tony said trying to prompt the man.

  
“Malia’s mother recently passed away and it has fallen to me to inform you,” the man explained.

“I don’t see what this has to do with me, professor,” Tony responded.

  
“I don’t think you understand, Dr. Stark, according to her birth certificate you are her father. We assumed you were aware of this,” Summers told him.

  
“I- I wasn’t. What did you say her name was?”

  
“Isabella Malia Stark, she prefers to be known by her middle name. She turned fifteen last month,” Summers informed him.

  
“You’ll understand if I wish to perform a DNA test?” Tony said.

  
“Malia probably won’t but, yes, we’ll understand. Just tell us when and where,” Summers responded.

  
“Where are you located?” Tony asked.

  
“Westchester in upstate New York,” came the response.

  
“Okay, bring her to the Avengers’ compound ASAP, it should be a roughly two-hour drive. Dr. Bruce Banner will run the test,” Tony decided.

  
“Fine by me. I can’t leave now, but I can have Logan collect her and bring her to you,” Summers told him before hanging up.

  
Pepper stared at the phone as Tony sank to sit on the couch, now that he didn’t have to sound confident, shock and panic filled him.

  
“A kid? A girl? A daughter? I’m supposed to be her father? I’m not father material! What if the test is positive? What will I do? She just lost her mother, oh my god, I can’t handle this!” Tony babbled.

  
“Tony,” said Pepper calmly, “Calm down. Is it possible?”

  
“Of course, it’s possible, Pep,” said Tony, “I was a shameless playboy. I didn’t always use protection and I never asked if she was on the pill. Anyway, protection can fail.”

  


Bruce Banner was completely silent when Tony told him he needed to run a paternity test. He took Tony’s blood and mapped his DNA.

  
“if you don’t mind me asking, Tony, how’d you find out about this kid? Come to think of it, boy? Girl? Name?” Bruce asked as the computer finished mapping Tony’s DNA.

  
“A girl, her name is Malia,” Tony told him, “Her mother was killed in a car wreck. Apparently, she was so adamant I was her father that she put me on the birth certificate and gave the kid my last name. She attends a boarding school in upstate New York, they called to make arrangements thinking I knew.”

  
“Oh. Wow, um… what are you going to do?” Bruce asked.

  
“Right now? I’m going to wait and see what the test says,” Tony told him.

  
Bruce nodded, fully understanding that but then he realized Tony had said the girl attended a boarding school in upstate New York and a sneaking suspicion began to creep up on him. He looked at the map of Tony’s DNA and saw something that made his stomach sink.

  
“Tony, what’s the name of the school?” Bruce asked.

  
“What?” Tony responded, he was still trying to process that he may be a father.

  
“The school she attends, Tony, what’s it called?” Bruce asked.

  
“Xavier’s, I think they said. Why?” Tony said.

  
Bruce looked back at the screen at the section of the map of DNA that indicated that Tony was indeed a carrier of the mutant gene. Bruce wondered if he should tell Tony. Tony was carrying the mutant gene and if this girl attended Xavier’s, then she was a mutant. What kind if mutant was she? What about the teacher who was driving, what kind of mutant was he? Bruce decided to make his decisions after the DNA test came back too If they were lucky it was a complete coincidence that Tony was carrying the mutant gene.

  
“Well, the computer is done all we can do now is wait. Do you want to stay down here, or do you want to wait and see what the test says before you go so far as to meet this kid?” Bruce asked Tony.

  
“I’ll go back to my suite,” said Tony, absently, “I’m not meeting anybody until the test comes back. I’ll have Friday direct them here.”

  
“Yeah, that probably a good idea,” said Bruce. He couldn’t help wondering how Tony would take being father to a mutant.

  
He didn’t have long to ponder though. Soon Friday was directing a small and thin dark-haired teenage girl and a tall buff man who looked more like a cage fighter than a teacher into his lab. Awkward silence lasted about ten seconds before the girl broke it.

  
“So, um, you’re really Bruce Banner, the Hulk?” she asked.

  
“Malia,” growled the man.

  
“What? It’s a valid question! Its not everyday you meet an Avenger!” she defended.

  


The man rolled his eyes, “Hello, I’m Logan and she” he jerked a thumb at the teenager, “is Malia.”

“Malia, do you understand why you’re here?” Bruce asked. He rarely worked with children and wasn’t sure how to address a mutant in her mid-teens.

  
“I’m not a little kid, Doc, and I’m not stupid. I assume you need to take my blood for a paternity test,” she said as she held out her left arm in a perfect position to have blood drawn.

  
“Have you had your blood taken before?” he asked, not everyone knew exactly how to position their arm to give a doctor good access to the veins.

  
“All the time,” said Malia.

  
“Do you mind if I ask why,” asked Bruce as he tied the blue tourniquet just above her elbow and she clenched her fist without being asked.

  
“You know what we are. I can tell,” she said.

  
“FRIDAY, is Tony watching or listening in right now?” Bruce asked.

  
“No, Dr. Banner, he asked simply to be informed of the results. He didn’t wish to watch,” the AI responded.

  
“Holy shit, are you an AI?” exclaimed Malia after hearing FRIDAY’s voice.

  
“Language, Malia!” exclaimed Logan.

  
She rolled her eyes as Bruce gently slipped the needle into a vein and drew a vial of dark blood. He undid the tourniquet and pressed a small bit of gauze to the pinprick wound.

  
“Yes, I know you’re mutants and no, I haven’t told Tony. If this test comes back positive though, you should,” Bruce told them as Malia took the gauze and pressed it down on her wound. Bruce secured it in place with a strip of surgical tape and had the computer begin analyzing Malia’s DNA.

  
The computer beeped, and Bruce looked at the results.  


 

Tony and Pepper sat together in the common room waiting for the test results when FRIDAY spoke.

  
“Boss, I have the test results from Dr. Banner. Would you like to hear them?”

  
“Hit me,” said Tony before he could change his mind.

  
“Congratulations, Boss, it’s a girl.”


	2. Xavier's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Pepper visit, learn a few things and meet Malia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much dialogue, I'm sorry. This chapter kinda got away from me but I hope you like it.

              Pepper went with Tony to Xavier’s and decide what to do about his daughter. Pepper still couldn’t quite believe it. Tony had a daughter, a fifteen-year-old daughter, who had just lost her mother. As they passed through a large front gate with an X on it and saw students on the grounds, playing at a basketball court, running after each other, or sitting talking to each other, Pepper decided that this looked like a nice place to go to school. Her eyes were drawn to a group of five teenagers sitting on the grass, talking and laughing. Two boys and three girls, they looked about the right age, maybe one of the girls was Tony’s daughter?

              _Malia_ , Pepper thought silently telling herself that she would have to get used to using her soon-to-be stepdaughter’s name. Tony stopped and parked the car, he had chosen to drive himself in one of his cars rather than have Happy drive. As they got out several people stopped in their tracks to stare at them.

              “Is that _Tony Stark?”_ she heard someone ask.

              “What are they doing here?” asked another.

              “Do you think they know?” Pepper wasn’t sure what to make of that question. Did she and Tony know what?

              A man a few years older than Tony with brown hair and red glasses over his eyes opened the door and stepped out.

              “Dr. Stark?” he asked Tony sticking out his hand.

              “Tony,” said Tony taking it.

              “Scott” responded the man before turning to Pepper and holding out his hand again.

              “Pepper Potts, just call me Pepper,” she told him as she shook his hand.

              “Come inside the professor would like to speak to you,” said Scott.

              “The professor?” asked Tony.

              “Professor Xavier, I guess you’d call him the principal or headmaster, but everyone just calls him the professor,” Scott explained.

              “Oh, okay,” said Tony as they began to follow Scott inside.

              There were several students around, most of whom stopped and stared when they saw Tony and Pepper. Scott gave a slightly frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his messy brown hair.

              “Its rude to stare and you have homework to do,” he said, raising his voice just enough to make sure they all heard him.  Slowly, the students returned to whatever they had been doing. Tony and Pepper kept following Scott until he stopped at a polished wooden door and knocked.

              “Come in,” said a cultured voice.

              They entered to see a wood paneled and tasteful, if old world, office. A red-haired woman was speaking to an older man in a wheelchair. She stopped talking as they entered and turned to face them, revealing a pretty face, pale skin, green eyes, and a bright smile.

              “Hello, Jean Grey,” she said holding out her hand.

              Tony and Pepper once again completed the ritual with Jean and invited her to call them Tony and Pepper and she invited them to call her Jean.

              Tony looked at the man in the wheelchair who sat behind the desk and held out his hand to him. “Professor Xavier?” he asked.

              “Indeed, Dr. Stark” he said as he shook Tony’s hand, “Please call me Charles or Professor, whichever you prefer.”

              “Tony,” said Tony, “this is my fiancée Pepper Potts.”

              “Ms. Potts” said Charles.

              “Pepper,” said Pepper.

              “Well now that we are all acquainted I have something to tell you before you meet Malia,” said Charles, “there is no easy way to say this, so I will put it simply. We, all the teachers and all the students here, are mutants.”

              _“Mutants?”_ asked Tony.

              “Yes,” responded Charles simply.

              “I am sure everyone here knows how Howard Stark felt about the mutant community. I do not wish to offend either of you, but I do require assurance that you won’t tell anyone about this and that Malia will be safe in your care,” said Charles.

              Pepper’s head spun, they were mutants. Malia was a mutant. She found she felt no offense at Charles’ request for assurance that the secret be kept and that all his students would be safe. Everyone did know that Howard had thought mutants volatile and dangerous at best.

              “I am not my father,” said Tony, breaking into Pepper’s thoughts, “and I would never harm a child. Much less, my own.”

              Charles relaxed and smiled, “That is exactly what I hoped to hear.”

              “If I may, what kind of mutant is she?” Pepper asked.

              “I’m a technopath,” said a voice from the doorway. It sounded as if it had gotten lost somewhere between a woman’s and child’s and had a slight southern twang to it.

              Everyone turned to see a teenage girl with messy dark curls and pale skin leaning against the door frame. She had her back against the frame, so Pepper could only see her profile but even with just her profile on view Pepper could see she greatly resembled Tony. Like Tony, she was slim and roughly average height. Her profile reminded Pepper of Tony’s though the chin was off. The same dark curls and high cheekbones for sure. As far as she could tell everything was the same except her chin. Oddly enough, she was dressed like Tony when he was in his workshop. Jeans, dark and plain with rips and grease and oil stains and a plain black t-shirt also stained with oil and grease. It was on her hands and face too. Pepper couldn’t be sure, but she thought it was in her hair too. The scuffed black sneakers she had on were obviously steel-toed. 

              Malia, for the girl must have been Malia, straightened and turned to face them. Pepper realized two things one was that she did have Tony’s chin, it must have been her hair falling forward into her face that had made it look different. The second was that the only thing Malia had not gotten from Tony was her eyes. They were extraordinary, her eyes. Blue, one dark blue and one a medium blue each with green rings around the pupil the green corresponding shades to the outer rings of blue.

              “I have to ask. Are those eyes part of the mutation?” Pepper asked. Mismatched blue and green eyes set into an all-too familiar face focused on Pepper.

              “As far I know, my mutation does not affect my appearance, so the eyes are all natural. Then again, so is the mutation,” she said. Only the soft southern accent stopped her tone from being identical to Tony’s when he thought the person he was talking to was being dim.

              “Oh god, there’s two of them,” muttered Pepper.

              “Mind your tone, Malia,” snapped Scott at the same time.

              Malia shrugged clearly unaffected by the admonishment, “She asked,”

              “You could’ve just said ‘no’, politely,” he pointed out.

              Malia gave a smile eerily similar to Tony’s cocky and sarcastic smile, “Where’s the fun in that?”

              _“Malia,”_ said Charles

Pepper was trying to contain the desire to tell them it was pointless she’d been trying to teach tact to Tony for years and still hadn’t managed it. Malia huffed and pushed a stray shoulder-length curl out of her face but didn’t speak.

Tony seemed to finally regain the power of speech (he had appeared to be dumbstruck since Malia’s entrance) asked the obvious question.

“What’s a technopath?” he asked.

“It means I can control technology with my mind, everything from the TV remote to a nuclear bomb,” she said.

Jean coughed softly, “We haven’t tested the nuclear bomb theory and it’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“Yes, Dr. Grey, but in basics that is my mutation. Do we have to explain _everything_ it allows me to do right now? Baby steps, please,” said Malia.

Pepper considered that, the implications of having that kind of control over something everyone depended in their day to day lives was not lost on her. Just like Tony again, she could easily take over the world if she was in the mood. Talk about being careful with a child. Did they teach ethics here?

What in the world were they going to do with Malia?

No one spoke, Tony was staring at his daughter, seeming to notice the resemblance.

“You look a lot like me,” he told Malia.

“Thank you?” she said.

“MALIA!” yelled a voice.

Scott, Jean, and Charles all looked at her as Logan walked in, looking frazzled and none-too-amused. Malia took a step back when she saw him and put up both her hands in a calming gesture.

“Whatever it is, I swear I didn’t do it!” she said.

“My office has been painted bright yellow,” said Logan.

“Really?” asked Malia, clearly struggling to contain laughter, “Can I see?”

“Malia, you are not making a good case for yourself,” Charles said quietly.

“Right,” said Malia slowly. She looked around as if trying to find inspiration on what to say, “Well,” she gave a shaky laugh, “I’ve been in my room all morning.”

“Doing what?” asked Scott.

“About that… it’s really nothing interesting,” she said.

“The last time you started a sentence like that you had made a plasma gun,” Scott said with a glare.

“Really?” asked Tony,

“You’re not the only genius in this room,” Malia told him.

“Focus!” snapped Logan.

“Right, focus, I didn’t paint your office; I was making spy drones,” said Malia.

“Really?” asked Scott.

“I was bored,” defended Malia.

“I can think of about ten thousand better things to do,” Scott deadpanned.

Pepper was holding back laughter, it was looked like Malia had gotten her father’s intelligence

and engineering talent too. Pepper was half-tempted to aske if she had gotten anything from her mother. And just with that thought Pepper’s amusement at the situation vanished, Malia’s mother.

“Perhaps we should go see what happened to your office Logan and let Tony and Malia speak to each other privately. You are welcome to come with us if you wish, Pepper,” said Charles, “or you may remain here.”

Pepper thought for a second. Should she leave Malia and Tony alone together? That could go any number of ways (explosions included) but they should get a chance to talk alone. Pepper wanted to get to know Malia too but still. Pepper rose, Tony and Malia should talk alone. Pepper would have plenty of time to get to know her later. Maybe be Pepper would take her shopping…

As the door closed and Tony and Malia were left alone, Malia sat down in Pepper’s recently vacated chair. Tony turned to face her.

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 3

“So, Malia, that’s a pretty name,” said Tony.

“Thanks,” said Malia.

They both had spoken slowly and awkwardly now that they were alone. Without other people to act as a buffer neither knew what to make of the other.

“If you don’t mind me asking, your mother?” he asked.

“Her name was Sarah Collins when you met her. She was recently widowed and a journalist. It was at or, after I guess, some robotics convention,” Malia said, deadpan.

“Fifteen years ago? I don’t remember,” said Tony as he tried to remember.

“Closer to sixteen when you consider the normal human gestation period and according to Sarah, you were both incredibly drunk,” Malia said.

“Sarah?” Tony asked, “Not Mom?”

“No, Mommy remarried when I was two. And her husband, who insisted I call him ‘Daddy’, didn’t much like it when my powers manifested,” she said bitterly.

“Ah, do you still call him Daddy?” he asked,

“Not allowed to call him anything else to his face but when I’m not speaking to him I use his name, Robert,” Malia said.

“Where’s your accent from?” asked Tony, an abrupt change of topic.

“Town in Alabama called Cullman,” she said.

` “Alabama?” he asked incredulously.

“Please, no Alabama stereotypes, they drive me insane,” said Malia as she rolled her eyes. 

“Alright, kid, no stereotypes,” Tony assured her, he couldn’t help himself, he smiled.

Meanwhile at the Avengers Compound

The Rogue Avengers were having lunch.

“Where’s Tony?’ asked Steve as he made himself a sandwich for lunch, “I went to his lab to try to make him come have lunch with us, but he wasn’t in his workshop.”

“I don’t know and honestly I don’t care,” answered Clint.

“FRIDAY, where’s Tony?” asked Natasha.

“Boss left early this morning with Boss Lady on a personal matter,” replied the AI.

“What kind of personal matter?” asked Bucky as he walked into the kitchen.

“I am not at liberty to say,” responded FRIDAY.

“Maybe he and Pepper just wanted some alone time,” said Natasha.

“Maybe,” said Steve as he turned back to his lunch. He wondered what Tony and Pepper were doing. And what if there was a call to assemble? Tony really should’ve told them he wasn’t going to be there, so they would know that they wouldn’t have Iron Man for the day. Tony had been avoiding them since they had come back and signed the revised accords. When he was forced to talk to them he was stiffly formal or flat-out rude and always beat a hasty retreat. But why would he take-off and not inform them. He was getting tired of Tony not letting it go. 

Well he would deal with Tony when he got back from whatever his “personal matter” was.

It bothered Steve most of the day, he and Tony needed to have a serious talk about the way Tony was behaving. 

Xavier’s   
Tony and Malia were managing to get along rather well by the time they got to the topic of Malia’s afore mentioned spy drones. Tony had found the more he spoke to Malia, the more he liked her, but he knew he was putting off the real topic.

“Malia,” he said, abruptly cutting her off when she was describing the chemical composition of the slime she had designed to have the drones drop on people.

Malia went silent

“What grade are you in, Malia?” he asked.

“I graduated last month,” she answered, “Why?”

“You graduated? Aren’t you fifteen?” Tony asked.

“Its easier in a small privately-run school to get ahead, “Malia said, with a shrug, “Anyway, how old were you when you graduated high school?”

“Good point. Thought about college?” he asked.

“I was thinking about taking a year off or maybe doing some of the basic common cores online or at the local community college,” she said, shrugging again.

“Community college? When you graduated three years early? Let me guess, funds problem?” Tony asked.

“Robert doesn’t think women need to go to college and he won’t help me pay for it. I have perfect grades and graduated three years early. I can get scholarships but where I want to go to college is kind of out of the question,” she said.

“Malia, I met you an hour ago and I know you’re brilliant and could get into any college,” Tony told her, “And you don’t have to worry about tuition or books or living expenses. You’d hardly be the only one Stark Industries is helping if that’s a concern. Or is it your powers?”

Malia looked down, seeming to not be very sure how to respond. 

“Part of it is my powers. I want to major in engineering but I’m not sure which specific field. I would be around a lot of tech. I have a good handle on my powers, but something might set them off by accident. Being startled or a nightmare could do it. Maybe even sleep deprivation, that from what I hear, gets common in college. I’m ecstatic that I don’t have to worry about money and pay back debts until I’m in my thirties, but there’s still my powers to consider,” she answered.

Tony thought about this, she was not wrong. An idea occurred to him but he wasn’t sure if Malia would like it. He wanted to really get to know his child and the compound had plenty of superhero training and tech in it. They could help her with control of her powers and teach her to fight if she didn’t already know (Tony was not a stupid man, he knew the teachers must be the X-Men). If she did they could let her train with them and Tony would certainly let her play with his tech (she could even use some to help control her powers). Peter was coming to stay for the summer and he’d practically adopted Harley already, another teenager would be no problem, even if this one was a girl.

Anyway, all three of them were obviously very smart and into science. They’d be good for each other, friends to help and bounce ideas off of. But would Malia want to leave Xavier’s and come to the compound? 

“If you wanted to,” said Tony slowly, “You could spend some time at the Avenger’s Compound with me. I have plenty of tech that you could use your powers on and I live with the other avengers. If you wanted to learn to fight or if the X-Men already taught you, that’s something you could do.”

“Picked up that this is the X-Men’s base?” Malia asked.

“Scott is Cyclops, right, and they never call the redhead anything but she’s pretty easy to recognize and I’m guessing Logan is the one they call Wolverine. Storm and Beast and Nightcrawler and Mystique around too?” Tony asked.

“And Magneto and a few others,” responded Malia with a shrug.

“Magneto as in Erik Lensherr?” asked Tony, slightly alarmed.

“Yeah, he’s actually a good teacher,” answered Malia.

“So, the compound?” Tony reminded her, as he filed away the information for later consideration “You wouldn’t even be the only teenager. I’ve got two boys that stay all summer and longer sometimes. Harley’s a good friend and I’m sure he’d like you and Peter would too though I’ll let him explain why he’s there. I’d like to get to know you, Malia, I wish I could’ve been there since you were born but I can’t change that I haven’t.”

` “I know that, well I know my mother didn't tell you about me but I always wonder why,” Malia muttered.

Tony could take a guess, but he was hardly going to list his worst features pre-Afghanistan to his teenage daughter. He would’ve appreciated knowing but he knew he wouldn’t have been a good father then. He probably would’ve done what Howard had done with him and shipped her off to boarding school as soon as she was old enough. Not that she hadn’t ended up at boarding school but still. 

“I think” said Malia slowly, “the compund might be a good idea.”

Tony couldn’t help but smile at the idea of having his daughter with him.


End file.
